Silent Hill: Revelation

Plot

Sharon Da Silva (Adelaide Clemens) and her adoptive father Christopher (Sean Bean), currently hiding behind aliases of Heather and Harry Mason, have spent the past few years moving from town to town and assuming different identities. Heather believes that they are on the run from the police because Harry killed a man in self-defense and that her adoptive mother Rose (Radha Mitchell) died in a car crash. In fact, he has been protecting her from a cult of Silent Hill, called the Order. Rose was able to free Heather (Sharon) from one of the alternate dimensions using one half of a talisman called the Seal of Metatron, but she herself remained trapped in Silent Hill.

Heather meets fellow student Vincent Cooper (Kit Harington), but is haunted by hallucinations of Silent Hill. She is approached by private investigator Douglas Cartland (Martin Donovan) regarding her identity. Heather warns Harry, but he is abducted by the Order and taken to Silent Hill. Unaware of this, Heather goes to a mall to wait for Harry, but enters the mall's Otherworld. Douglas explains he was hired by the Order to find Heather, but decides to help her when he discovered who his clients were. A monster, the Missionary (Liise Keeling), kills Douglas. Heather returns to the real world and flees, unfortunately leaving her a suspect of Douglas' murder.

Vincent escorts her home, but they find a message instructing Heather to go to Silent Hill. On the way to rescue her father, Heather reads a letter from her father detailing the truth of her background and lost memories. Heather and Vincent travel to the town, but stop at a motel, where Vincent reveals that he is the son of the Order’s leader Claudia Wolf (Carrie-Anne Moss), and was sent by her to ensure Heather came of her own volition to Silent Hill. He reveals that Heather is a part of Alessa Gillespie (Erin Pitt), a girl whose immolation 38 years ago by the Order lead to creation of the town's shifting dimensions. The resulting argument triggers a shift to the Otherworld. The Missionary grabs Vincent, but not before he tells Heather to find his grandfather Leonard (Malcolm McDowell), who possesses the other half of the Seal of Metatron.

Heather ventures into one of the alternate dimensions to find Leonard. She encounters Alessa’s mother Dahlia (Deborah Kara Unger), who reveals that Claudia intends to complete the purpose intended for Alessa at her burning. Heather finds Leonard who after informing her that the Seal of Metatron will reveal "the true nature of things," fuses Heather's half of the amulet with the one he possesses and becomes a monster. After being knocked out and carried off, Heather regains consciousness and grabs the amulet from within his body, killing Leonard. As she runs away, she unknowingly summons Pyramid Head (Roberto Campanella), the entity created to protect Alessa (and by extension Heather), and hides from him. Shortly after, she witnesses Vincent being taken away by the Order after being deemed insane by Claudia for betraying them.

Heather saves Vincent and they go to Lakeside Amusement Park where the Order's sanctuary is hidden. Dark Alessa (Erin Pitt and Adelaide Clemens), the manifestation of Alessa’s wrath, confronts Heather who embraces her counterpart, absorbing her, and making Alessa complete once again. Heather confronts Claudia, who is holding Harry and Vincent hostage. Claudia explains that Alessa's destiny was to be the incubator for a deity worshiped by the Order, who would punish all sinners upon its birth, completing Heather's destiny as well. Remembering Leonard's words, Heather gives Claudia the Seal of Metatron, revealing her to be the Missionary. Heather summons Pyramid Head, who kills the Missionary, allowing Heather to rescue Vincent and Harry.

As the fog fades from the town, Harry decides to stay in Silent Hill to find and free Rose, leaving Heather in Vincent's care. They manage to hitch a ride away from the place in a truck driven by Travis Grady (Peter Outerbridge). Travis mentions to Heather (now referring to herself as Sharon) and Vincent that they were lucky he was there since he hadn't been driving in that direction for a long time. A couple of police cars, followed by a prisoner transport, enter the area of Silent Hill, which is then consumed by the fog. In a post-credits scene, Pyramid Head is seen walking through an unknown area in Silent Hill.

Cast

Development

Following the release of Silent Hill, Christophe Gans, its director, reported that a sequel "is officially ordered and is already well underway". However, he then declined to direct a sequel, stating he "had other projects in mind." Michael J. Bassett then took over writing and directing duties. Silent Hill's writer Roger Avary had planned to return to the sequel, before his arrest in 2008 for vehicular manslaughter. Michael J. Bassett later replaced Gans and Avary as writer and director.

In 2009, video game artist Masahiro Ito, who participated in the development of multiple installments of the Silent Hill series of video games, was asked to design the creatures and the look of the "Otherworld" dimension featured in the film, but declined the offer because of other obligations. Jeff Danna and Akira Yamaoka composed the film's soundtrack.

Casting

Prior to the start of Silent Hill: Revelation's filming, Bassett expressed in his official blog that he was open to fans' suggestions of whom to cast as main protagonist Heather Mason, provided that the actress would provide a realistic portrayal of an eighteen-year-old and that she would be "well known". The existence of a page on the website IMDb was also cited as a requirement. Australian actress Adelaide Clemens was eventually cast in the role. Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Deborah Kara Unger, and Roberto Campanella were all contacted to reprise their previous roles which they accepted.

Filming and audio mixing

Principal photography began in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 7, 2011 and wrapped in May 2011, with the 3D RED Epic camera used for the process. Street and bridge scenes were shot in Galt from March 21 to March 26 and scenes set at Silent Hill's Lakeside Amusement Park were filmed at the Cherry Beach park on April 7, 2011. The final theatrical mix for the film was completed on February 2, 2012. The film's audio mixing took place in Paris, France, and was handled by a team of six people.

Release

Silent Hill: Revelation received its premier in Hong Kong on 25 October 2012. Its U.S. premiere, released through Open Road Films, was on October 26, 2012. Two clips were screened at San Diego Comic-Con International 2012 and a trailer was published on July 27, 2012. The film was not released theatrically in Australia; it was released direct-to-video on March 6, 2013.

Box office

Silent Hill: Revelation opened at #5 at the box office, taking in an opening weekend gross of $8 million, and has internationally grossed a total of $52,302,796, as of March 27, 2013, making it a moderate box office success from its $20 million budget.

Critical reception

Silent Hill: Revelation was panned by film critics, and currently holds a 5% approval rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, based on 55 critics and an average rating of 2.8 out of 10. The site's consensus is: "Mediocre effort even by the standards of video game adaptations, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D features weak characters and an incomprehensible plot with a shortage of scares". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 15 out of 100, indicating "overwhelming dislike." Dennis Harvey of Variety said that Silent Hill: Revelation 3D is a "cheaper, cheesier sequel that's worse than its predecessor on every level (save being a half-hour shorter) and takes no special advantage of the stereoscopic process."

Possible sequel

Michael J. Bassett stated that if he is to make a sequel, instead of adapting from an existing game, he would prefer to use the stories in the graphic-novel adaptations.